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Tips
for preventing pollution
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ways you can prevent water pollution in your home and
business. |
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Auto Care
Recycle your used motor oil. There
are a number of places in Greene County that
accept used motor oil for free. Call the
Greene County Sanitary Engineering
Environmental Services Division at (937) 562-5925
for more information or visit our website at www.co.greene.oh.us. If you change your own
oil, collect the drips and clean up spills.
Maintain your car and fix any oil,
radiator, or transmission leaks as soon as
you see them.
Never pour waste oil or
antifreeze on the ground, into the street or
down a storm drain.
Wash your car at commercial carwashes
that can recycle water into the sanitary
sewer. If you wash your car at home, do it
on the grass, which can absorb some of the
runoff. Detergents used to wash cars can
contain chemicals harmful to aquatic life.
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Home Care
Buy and use environmentally
friendly and biodegradable products. Choose
safer, multi-purpose cleaners marked with only a
“caution” warning, rather than products with
“poison” and “danger” on the label.
Visit www.riversmart.org to find recipes for
inexpensive, safe alternatives to items such as
chlorine, phosphate products and solvents like
paint thinner.
If you do have hazardous
chemicals around the house, they can be
dropped off at the Environmental Services
Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day. For
more information, call (937) 562-5925 or visit
the website at www.co.greene.oh.us.
Phase out phosphates. Avoid
using phosphates in detergents as they create
algae blooms in waterways, which in turn choke
habitat and deprive fish and other species of
oxygen.
Paint is a hazardous substance as
a liquid. Once it is dry, it can be thrown into
the trash. If you have paint leftover from a
project, leave the lid off for several days, and
once it is dry, throw it in the regular trash.
To speed the drying process, you can add sawdust
or kitty litter.
Maintain your septic system. Malfunctioning
septic systems are a major cause of river
pollution. Have them pumped and inspected every 3 to
5 years. Most of what you put down your garbage
disposal can be composted into rich soil.
Use a proper container for
your trash and recyclables. Don’t put trash
into the street or gutter where it can be washed
into the storm drainage system.
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Yard
Care
Use
caution with home and garden chemicals. When
it comes to pesticides, herbicides or
fertilizers, buy only what you need and apply
sparingly. Follow the manufacturer’s
directions. Never apply any of these chemicals
before an anticipated rain.
Store
household maintenance projects away from
rain and runoff. Clean up spills.
Reduce
the amount of impervious surfaces (asphalt
and concrete) around your home. Look into
alternatives such as paving blocks, gravel,
cobbles, brick, natural stone, and pulverized
glass in driveways, parking lots and walkways.
Chose
low-maintenance native plants that require
fewer chemicals and less watering.
Pick
up after your pets.
Properly
manage and dispose of your yard waste,
particularly tree and bush clippings. You can
create a compost pile where the material will
not be picked up by storm water. In addition, the
Environmental Services offers yard waste
drop-off programs in Xenia, Beavercreek,
Fairborn, and Bellbrook. Call (937) 562-5925 for more
information or visit the website at
www.co.greene.oh.us.
Control
erosion in your yard by landscaping bare
areas.
Using
a mulching mower. Grass can be a good
fertilizer. Allow the nutrients of grass
clippings to fertilize the lawn.
Use
water efficiently. Do not water your lawn-it
will go dormant in dry weather, then return to
life when rains return. If you must water your
flowers and shrubs, water in the early morning
during low evaporation.
Sweep
rather than use the hose to clean off your
sidewalks and driveway. Hosing for 15 minutes
can waste as much as 150 gallons of water. Water
runoff from hard surfaces carries contaminants
into our streams and rivers.
Don’t
blow soil, grass or leaves into the street
or storm drain. Soils and sediment cloud
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Large
Lot and Farm Care
Stop
erosion by planting ground cover to
stabilize slopes, shorelines and embankments.
Buffer
your waterways. Create buffer strips with
native vegetation along waterways, such as
rivers, brooks, ponds, streams, lakes and
wetlands. If you are using grassed filter
strips, mow the strip two or three times a year
to maintain a thick, vegetative cover. Buffers
will stabilize your banks as well as help keep
polluted runoff from reach the stream.
Give
the fish shade, too. Forested areas adjacent
to water bodies should be left undisturbed,
which will provide shade for the fish and other
critters in the waterway. It will also keep the
waterways from getting warmer, a process that
promotes algae growth.
Protect
nesting birds in your fields. To avoid
impact on ground-nesting birds, mowing should be
limited t spring or fall. It is also best to
harvest the mowed grass to allow for thicker
growth. This will remove nutrients that could be
released into the waterway during decomposition.
Use
setbacks to help wildlife and you. Setbacks
from waterways protect the buffer strip
vegetation, provide a wildlife corridor and
reduce exposure to floods. Effective setbacks
still allow for certain types of “low impact”
non-inhabitable development such as docks and
open gazebos.
Find
out about best management practices for farms
and forests. Call the Ohio Department of Natural
Resources or the Greene County Extension Service
to find out about “best management practices”
to reduce erosion on your land and enhance water
quality within your watershed.
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E-mail us at:
GCSED@co.greene.oh.us
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